Michael Hart wrote:
On Mon, 30 Jan 2006, Lee Passey wrote:
Michael Hart wrote:
So, what you are telling me hre, ist hat while a human can muddle through ok, it takes a computer to really maess things up.
I think what he is saying is that the human brain is a highly capable, general purpose computing device, highly capable of resolving ambiguity, whereas computers and their associated software are still rather primative devices. I believe that at some point in the future computers will be capable of resolving all the ambiguities inherent in PG e-texts, but that day is not yet here, and until then the software is going to require some human help.
Still, I don't see why the computer has to make all those decisions.
Can't it just lay there, out of the process, and just let me read?
;-)
It can, but it can also do more. Personally, my reading experience is improved if new chapters always start at the top of the screen, and if chapter and section headings are rendered in a way that makes it _obvious_ that they are chapter and section headings. When I read I like to become so engrossed that I don't have to stop and think about the mechanics of the layout. I _can_ do so, I just don't _want_ to. Obviously, Project Gutenberg e-texts are insufficient for me, just as they are adequate for you. But it is a fallacy to assume that because they are sufficient for you that they are sufficient for everyone.